I've collected books for
a long time. I think I was a collector before I knew I was a
collector. One day you just wake up and realize you have a few
hundred books packed into your one bedroom apartment.
I'm not a “serious”
collector, though. I don't dream about ribbed leather spines or first
editions with pristine dust jackets and the authors signature on the
title page. I collect books that I like, and once in awhile books
that are outside my interest but have redeeming attributes, like a
thumb notched 1930s cookbook (28 notched categories!) or a small guide to ships of the Great
Lakes from 1968. Not a very sophisticated collector.
But last weekend I went
to our local library's (The Hamburg Public Library) book sale. I'm
never the first one in the door, and if I arrive before eleven I must
be really hustling. Books are $3 per full grocery bag and they host
sales every six months or so, which means you only live with a book
that wasn't as good as expected for six months.
After I'd circled most of
the tables of books (The Picture Cookbook by Life magazine 1962!)
there was one table that had some fellow camped in front of it. I'd
gone around behind him twice but his tortoise pace meant it would be
another ten minutes before I could see the final few boxes. I checked
out the audible books and CDs.
Finally he moved on and I
walked over to the last boxes I'd not inspected. I looked over to see
what the hell was taking him so long; reading the spines of twenty or
so books wasn't very time consuming. Aha! He wasn't reading book
spines. He was picking up books, turning them over and snapping a
picture of their bar code with his smart phone. He then turned his
phone over to check the book's price on Amazon (I'm guessing) and
that would inform his decision whether or not to drop the book in his
bag. It was “show-rooming” in reverse! He wasn't looking to buy
low, he was looking to sell high. And judging by the nearly empty bag
he toted, he wasn't having much luck. (I wonder if his competition
was there when the doors opened?)
I sorted through my “new”
books when I got home. Only one of my books had a bar code! To my
mind the price checker may have missed the best books available.
Curious, I checked some pricing on the internet and found that two of
my books were available for over $30 on BookFinder.
I don't know why but it
struck me as a real waste of time to scan book after book without
seeing the title, the author, the year it was printed. At some level
I accept books as commodities, but really! Even remainder houses have
a sense of content.
Some days later I read
about a book that I thought may be helpful for research on a project
I'm working on, so naturally I again went to BookFinder (although it
was available from a number of sources as a free download) . I was
looking for the title Quaint Nantucket and it was published in 1896
so it's clearly in the public domain. This
link should take you to my search results.
The first four options
(displayed under the “New Books” heading) were for ebooks as .pdf
for $9.99. And then there were some Print On Demand paperbacks
starting at $17.20: plain text covers, uneven scans reproduced on a
laser printer. Wow.
Even more surprising, the
least expensive book under the “Used Books” listing was an actual
1901 copy. It was listed as “very good” condition. Then there
were POD hardcover copies that started at a dollar and a half more
and went progressively higher. I had to wonder how deep into digital
editions someone would have to be if an unpredictable scan,
reproduced with toner “ink” and bound cross grain that cost more
than an actual copy of the original book made sense.
I know the writing,
publishing, editing and retailing of current titles is in a state of
flux, but older titles that were made by craftsman, edited by
professionals and sold by people who loved the feel and smell of
books aren't getting any respect and I don't know why.
Last minute addition:
Too late for the newsletter, Claire
Messud author of The
Woman Upstairs,
answers a question from the media about the “likability” of
her protagonist. I think you'll enjoy her answer.
What
You Should Know about Page Design
Thirty
some years ago when I started making books, most publishers neglected
to specify
West
Virginia Schools to Read Sci-Fi?
A
West Virginia state representative has introduced a
bill to include science fiction reading as part of state school
curricula in hopes it would encourage interest in math, engineering
and the sciences. If it motivates kids to read I'm all for it.
(Unfortunately, their fifth
grade science camps, funded by the Defense Department, are facing
the budget ax.)
Most
Valuable Book in the World?
Well,
it's certainly in the top tier. A
copy of the Psalms printed in a run of 1,700 books in 1640 in
Cambridge MA is expected to fetch around $30M at auction next fall.
Booksellers
Keep Fighting
A
group of brick-and-mortar book sellers have asked a court to deny
a motion to dismiss their lawsuit for restraint of trade against
Amazon and the big six NYC publishers.
Would
You Like an Opinion?
Avon
Romance has introduced Share
Your Book. Authors will be able to upload
excerpts from their writing for others to critique, with the
promise that occasionally editors will poke around the offerings. Too
early to tell if this will evolve into a helpful community or (more
typically) losers who will flame everyone's submissions or interject
their irrelevant political biases.
Re-Examining
the Death of Books (and Publishers)
Predictably,
Wired
magazine sees doom and destruction in the book business as
ebooks continue to redefine the industry. But a
closer look at their conclusions paints a very different picture.
Leveling
the Retail Field
Efforts
to require collection
of sales taxes on all internet transactions seem likely to
succeed, offering some relief to Main Street retailers and ironically
protecting
Amazon from the next Amazon.
Kodak
Ready to Emerge from Bankruptcy
After
cutting a deal giving
its UK pensioners its remaining photographic and imaging business,
Kodak seems to have cleared the last hurdle to emerge from bankruptcy
a much smaller version of its former self.
Even
Better
Kodak
announced it made
a profit during the first quarter of 2013. Kodak hadn't posted a
profitable quarter since 2010.
Xpedx
to merge with Unisource
Although
I
reported xpedx was closing all of its paper supply stores last
February, it's just been announced that xpedx
and last surviving rival Unisource plan to merge and salvage
what's left of the paper/printer supply retail industry.
Defending
Captain Underpants
Each
September I participate in recognizing the paranoia that leads to
banning books during Banned Book Week. Now the American Library
Association has listed the ten
titles most frequently challenged in schools and libraries.
Instead of Salinger, Vonnegut or Morrison, author Dav
Pilkey's Captain Underpants titles for 'tween readers ranks
number one in complaints.
A
New Weekly for Baton Rouge
The
Newhouse
family has announced it's beginning a new weekly newspaper in
Baton Rouge, LA. Why? This
story goes beyond the press release..
Amelia
Turns 50!
Children's
book icon Amelia Bedelia turned 50 this year. Like everything
marketed today, her brand has been extended past Peggy Parish's (her
creator) death in 1988 by her nephew who added twenty-seven titles to
her canon. If you're not familiar with Amelia, above is a short video of Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping to share with your favorite youngster.
Adapting
for Mobile
Some
major publishers have released horrible mobile content. Here
are some tips so that you don't.
Final
Thought
